Head Disk Spacing Effect on Heat Transfer in Heat Assisted Magnetic Recording

Author(s):  
Shaomin Xiong ◽  
Erhard Schreck ◽  
Sripathi Canchi

Heat transfer at nanometer scale attracts a lot of interest from both academia and industries. The hard disk drive (HDD) industry cares about the heat transfer between the head and disk, as several heating and thermal sensing elements are integrated into the HDD system. Understanding the heat transfer mechanism and its dependency on spacing becomes very critical for heat assisted magnetic recording (HAMR). In this paper, we propose a new method to study the head disk spacing effects on heat transfer by introducing a small perturbation to the spacing while maintaining the heating source unchanged. The dependency of heat transfer on the nanoscale spacing provides insights to the understanding of heat transfer mechanisms inside the nanoscale gap.

Author(s):  
Shaomin Xiong ◽  
Robert Smith ◽  
Erhard Schreck

Abstract Heat assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) is a promising technology for the next generation hard disk drives (HDDs). Understanding the heat transfer at nanoscales and implementing a proper thermal management scheme become very critical as a few heat sources and energy delivery components are compactly integrated in a HAMR drive. Recently, a back-heating experimental setup is used to study heat transfer behavior. It is found that the detection of head disk contact and head disk spacing control become more complicated in this experimental setup because the local heating generates a protrusion on the media surface. In this paper, we demonstrate a method to enhance the contact detection sensitivity significantly by modulating the head disk spacing. It shows that a light contact between the head TFC protrusion and media protrusion can be effectively detected. Thereafter, the media protrusion can be measured and the head disk spacing can be well set.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (11) ◽  
pp. 3371-3376
Author(s):  
Tan D. Trinh ◽  
Sukumar Rajauria ◽  
Robert Smith ◽  
Erhard Schreck ◽  
Qing Dai ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Shaomin Xiong ◽  
Robert Smith ◽  
Chanh Nguyen ◽  
Youfeng Zhang ◽  
Yeoungchin Yoon

Abstract The air bearing surface is critical to the spacing control in current hard disk drives (HDDs). Thermal protrusions, including thermal flying height control (TFC) and writer coil protrusion, drive the reader/writer elements closer to the magnetic media. The spacing control actuation efficiency depends on the air bearing push back response after the TFC or writer protrudes. In the next generation hard disk drive technology, heat assisted magnetic recording (HAMR), laser induced protrusions further complicate the spacing control. The laser induced protrusions, such as the localized NFT protrusion and a wider change of the crown and camber, have very different dimensions and transient characteristics than the traditional TFC and writer protrusion. The dimension of the NFT protrusion is relatively smaller, and the transient is much faster than the TFC protrusion. However, it is found that the NFT protrusion is large enough to generate an air bearing push back effect, which changes the read and write spacing when the laser is powered on. To accurately control spacing in HAMR, this push back effect has to be taken into account.


Author(s):  
Qilong Cheng ◽  
David B. Bogy

Abstract To study the nanoscale heat transfer and laser-related protrusions in heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR), we performed static touchdown experiments between HAMR waveguide heads and non-rotating media such as a silicon wafer and a recording disk with an AlMg substrate. During the static touchdown, the laser element is energized with DC current and the embedded contact sensor (ECS) is used to monitor the head temperature. The experimental results show that the thermal fly-height control (TFC) touchdown power decreases with increasing laser current. Meanwhile, the head temperature increases due to the laser heating. From this the ECS resistance rise induced by the laser is extracted. The results show that the silicon wafer dissipates heat effectively under the laser exposure, while the AlMg-substrate disk undergoes a higher temperature rise, which in turn heats the head.


Author(s):  
Haoyu Wu ◽  
David Bogy

The near field transducer (NFT) overheating problem is an issue the hard disk drive (HDD) industry has faced since heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) technology was first introduced. In this paper, a numerical study of the head disk interface (HDI) is performed to predict the significance of the nanoscale heat transfer due to the back heating from the disk. A steady-state heat transfer problem is first solved to get the disk temperature profile. Then an iterative simulation of the entire HDI system is performed. It shows that the heat transfer coefficient in the HDI increases to about 6:49 × 106 W/(m2K) when the clearance is 0:83 nm. It also shows that in the free space laser scenario, the simulation result is close to the experimental result.


Author(s):  
Yueqiang Hu ◽  
Haoyu Wu ◽  
Yonggang Meng ◽  
David Bogy

The heat management problem in the heat assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) has been a long-term issue. In this paper, we investigated the temperature increase of a “lollipop” type near field transducer (NFT) in HAMR. We included the electromagnetic (EM) field analysis in the modeling and considered the back-heating from the media to the head with various heat transfer mechanisms. The results showed that the overcoat layer of the NFT plays an important role for protecting the NFT from high temperature. Degradation of the overcoat layer may result in the early failure of the NFT.


Author(s):  
Haoyu Wu ◽  
David Bogy

Understanding the heat transfer in the head disk interface (HDI) in the heat assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) is important. In this paper, we report on a series of experiments to study the heat transfer in the HDI using the perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) heads and media. The temperature increase of the embedded contact sensor (ECS) and the thermal fly-height control (TFC) heater was compared in the fly setup and non-fly setup. A series of simulations were performed to explain the results. We show that the design of the air bearing surface can significantly affect the pressure distribution in the read/write transducer area, and thereby affect the convective heat transfer coefficient.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document